The IVF process - Days 24 thru 27

It's Monday morning, the day after our embryo transfer and things are going well. Let me catch everyone up to speed by sharing what has happened up until this point. 

On Day 21, I had 11 eggs retrieved in total. Of those 11 eggs, only 1 one was found to be immature - essentially, it was not capable of being fertilized and thus no good. The remaining 10 eggs were fertilized - 5 through InVitro (sperm was directly injected into the egg) and 6 through natural means (sitting in a dish with sperm allowing them to fertilize naturally). The following images show how this process worked as well as what the eggs looked like as they began developing. 

Fertilization by injecting sperm into the center of the egg

All 11 embryo's - they are at various stages of cell division

The two embryo's that will be transferred

Of the two embryo's the doctor will transfer, one is already beginning to hatch

An image of my uterus - the bright dot in the center are the two embryos

Today marks day 27 and as per my doctor's orders, I'm on 24 hour rest. I'm not restricted to the bed but I have to take things easy. My plan is to do that for a couple of days just to make sure my body is recovering correctly. Since we are about 6 days into the process, the egg or eggs should implant around day 9 - that is on Thursday. I have to go in for blood work two more times and continue taking my progesterone shots until the pregnancy test is completed. They said that when I do get pregnant, I will have to continue with the shots. Can't say I'm too happy about that but it's well worth it!

From this point forward, I plan on keeping everything to a minimum. When we do get pregnant (and I know we will!), I want to make sure everything is ok before we make any announcements. I promise to keep family and friends in the loop as much as possible. Y'all will definitely be the first to know when we are expecting. 

Keep all of those well wishes and prayers coming our way. And thanks for all of the encouragement each of you have given us through this entire process. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful doctors, family, and friends. :)